Which version is better to use on the 4K Fire Stick?
Side load the regular Android app (ver 20190206) or use the Amazon supplied app (ver 20180803)?

Newer is always better, right? In theory SD submits the app to both the Google Play Store and the Amazon App Store about the same time. For reasons that perhaps only Jeff knows, sometimes Amazon has interesting delays in approval. Presuming nothing goes sideways (and occasionally something goes very sideways), Google Play Store approval has historically happened in a few hours (and then it can take a bit longer to pushed throughout the deployment ecosystem). Amazon has historically tended to take a few days for approval. The problem of such statistics is the tail of the curve is very long, and there is no known way to know if any particular submission will go into approval purgatory.

The Android app was submitted to Google so that the DRM update is available to those who need it. We're still working on fixing a few final bugs to get the app where we want it, so it has not yet been submitted to Amazon. No need to push out DRM updates for a platform that doesn't do DRM. Once we're happy with everything the app will be submitted to both, and Google will have it in a couple hours and Amazon in a couple days.

The Android app was submitted to Google so that the DRM update is available to those who need it. We're still working on fixing a few final bugs to get the app where we want it, so it has not yet been submitted to Amazon. No need to push out DRM updates for a platform that doesn't do DRM. Once we're happy with everything the app will be submitted to both, and Google will have it in a couple hours and Amazon in a couple days.

The Android app was submitted to Google so that the DRM update is available to those who need it. We're still working on fixing a few final bugs to get the app where we want it, so it has not yet been submitted to Amazon. No need to push out DRM updates for a platform that doesn't do DRM.

So you are stating that the Amazon app was not impacted by the other changes that were documented for the Android platform update?

The Android app was submitted to Google so that the DRM update is available to those who need it. We're still working on fixing a few final bugs to get the app where we want it, so it has not yet been submitted to Amazon. No need to push out DRM updates for a platform that doesn't do DRM.

So you are stating that the Amazon app was not impacted by the other changes that were documented for the Android platform update?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question. But Jason wasn't talking about need in terms of bug fixes. He was talking about need in the sense that DRM is about to stop working on Google Play without an app update, so we needed to push an app update immediately. Since Amazon doesn't do DRM, we're able to take our time and make sure all the bugs being fixed are actually fixed on that platform.

The Android app was submitted to Google so that the DRM update is available to those who need it. We're still working on fixing a few final bugs to get the app where we want it, so it has not yet been submitted to Amazon. No need to push out DRM updates for a platform that doesn't do DRM.

So you are stating that the Amazon app was not impacted by the other changes that were documented for the Android platform update?

Yes, you are misunderstand the (implied) question, which was that jasonl stated that the reason that the update was not submitted for the Fire platform was because the platform does not do DRM. Do the referenced fixes apply to the Fire platform or not? You imply they might. And if they do, then SD made an explicit choice to not submit those fixes for that platform at the same time as (more pure) Android devices (and ignoring the reasons for that (I don't really care), the stated justification (DRM missing) is at best incomplete). If they do not apply to that platform, then the release notes should probably point out platform specific details.

The fix for video stalling is relevant to all previous releases. The stereo detection fix only applies vs. the January beta, as that feature was new in January. Since the focus of this release was getting updated DRM support out as soon as possible, the decision was made to skip testing and release for non-DRM platforms (i.e. Amazon) until known issues are resolved and time is available to perform testing on Amazon devices.

On the contrary (coming from a person who has spent a long, long time releasing software) I consider this a sign we pretty highly prioritize Amazon users. We could have easily released the software on both channels a the same time, but we elected to only release it on the platform that we had to, because DRM forced our hands. We elected to hold off until we'd solved a few remaining issues, so that the Amazon experience was an upgrade, rather than a regression. That means that over the past few days, Fire users were running on a relatively solid platform.

I consider this a sign we pretty highly prioritize Amazon users. We could have easily released the software on both channels a the same time, but we elected to only release it on the platform that we had to, because DRM forced our hands.

So you disagree the statement from jasonl that the fix applied to all platforms? "The fix for video stalling is relevant to all previous releases. ...." was the statement?

I can only interpret your statement two ways, one is that jasonl is wrong, or alternatively that the fixes referred to were not ready to be released for anyone.

So, can you verify jasonl was wrong here? Or that the fixes were not ready to be released.

Beyond that, I'm honestly a bit perplexed by your question. When a software update is released, a fix in one area can affect other areas unintentionally. The fixes in question were indeed ready to be released, but, both as we predicted and discovered upon release on Google Play, there were unintended bugs/regressions that also needed fixing. We determined that the possibility of unintended bugs was less of an issue than people completely losing the ability to watch DRMed content, and so we made the decision to release on Google Play anyway.

There is no such thing as perfect in a software release. Instead, you do your best to eliminate all known bugs, and then make a judgment call about whether to hold back a release for more testing or not, based on the decision whether the benefit of releasing is a greater value than holding for continued testing. On Google Play, we decided releasing was more valuable than continued testing because people were going to be upset about losing the ability to play DRMed content. On Amazon, we decided continued testing was a greater value, because people would not be harmed by the loss of DRMed content.

In both cases, we did what we thought was best for the platform.

edit: I guess that sums up as the fixes were not ready to be released for everyone? But that's such a black and white interpretation of how software release decisions are made that it's effectively wrong.